Qâêr
=Brief Overview= This is the evolved and modified version of Ancient Qâêr which came about due to the creation of the 8 Lesser Races seen in the brief history of the Qâêr at Sâfaolehracópâ. This is resulted in the Qâêr reforming their language for the new peoples, and also this evolved version features some assimilation and dissimilation from Ancient Qâêr which vame about purely due to time. For a list on the dialects and different variations of Qâêr, please see the Qâêr Language Family ='Phonology'= Single Letters NB - The consonants in parentheses next to the phonemes are the letters used in Qâêr (When using the Latin Alphabet) to write those particular phonemes and when there is no letter in parentheses then the letter which represents the phonemes is simply used. Diphthongs : Vowels ='Phonotactics'= Consonants Consonant Rules Q''' and '''Hw are stand alone consonants, which means that only vowels can be placed on either side of them. They may also only be in the first and middle syllables of words. The consonants rules, where start means first syllable, middle the middle syllables and the end the last syllable, are as follows; #Nasals ##May be placed at all syllable positions. ##Can never be before or after Fricatives. ##Can be before Plosives and Liquids but only after Approximants. #Approximants ##May be placed only at the start and middle syllables. ##Apart from when being before Nasals, they are always voiced. ##Can be placed at the start, before and/or after vowels. ##Can be before and/or after Fricatives. ##Are unvoiced before Nasals but cannot be placed after Nasals. ##Can never be before or after Liquids. ##''Approximants'' can be before Plosives. #Fricatives ##May never be in the first syllable. ##Can never be before or after Plosives or Nasals or Liquids. ##Can be before and/or after Approximants. ##Apart from Dh, Fricatives are never voiced. #Liquids (J & W) ##May never be in the last syllable. ##Can never be before or after Fricatives or Approximants. ##Can never be before Plosives or Nasals. #Plosives ##May never be in the last syllable. ##Can be after Nasals and Approximants. ##Can never be before or after Fricatives. ##Can be before Liquids Syllable and Stress Syllable Structure - ©© V C © The rule for stress placement in Qâêr is that the accentuated vowel is always stressed however there are strict rules regarding stress placement which are as follows; :*In words two syllables long the last syllable is always stressed regardless of which syllable has the accentuated vowel. :*In words three or more syllables; in a three syllable word the second last syllable is always stressed, however when the word is lengthened whether by affixes or other words this sress pattern changes to stay on the second last syllable unless this syllable is not accentuated in which case the stress swaps to the nearest accentuated vowel that isn't the one in the last syllable. :*In words with five or six syllables long the second and fifth syllable is stressed. However when the fifth syllable is un-accentuated that the stress swaps to the sixth. In any other words longer than five and six syllables this rule applies. ='Grammar'= Sentence Structure The sentence structure in Qâêr follows a simple pattern. To start off the basic structure is - VERB - SUBJECT - OBJECT. The order of phrases is a sentence is; : VP (Adv.P) NP (Adj.P) (NP) (Adj.P) (PP) :Where - NP is a Noun Phrase, VP is a Verb Phrase, Adj.P and Adv.P are Adjectival and Adverbial Phrases respectively, and PP is a Postpositional Phrase. ::NB The things in (_) above are not olbigatory. In these phrases the structure is different to that of English; In Qâêr VPs consist of a verb, adverb and the mood particle. The mood particle always comes first followed by the verb then the adverb. (The VP structure here is different to English which in VP's puts the object in as well [e.g in "John '''Kissed the girl" - the bold part is one phase, a Verb Phrase.] whereas '''in Qâêr this is not so due to the different structure of VSO) In NPs the noun is always first followed by its determiner(if any) then its adjective(s), or an NP may consist also of just a pronoun. In PPs the verb (if applicable i.e in Phrasal/Prepositional verb constructions) comes first, followed by the noun, then its determniner and adjectives, and lastly the postposition itself (called thus postposition ceuase it follows the noun (post) rather than a preposition which precedes the noun (pre). In general these, VP, NP, and PP, structures can be broken down thus; : VP= Mood Particle + Verb + (Adv.) :NP= Noun + (Det.) + (Adj.) :PP+ (Verb) + (Adverb) + Noun + (Det.) + (Adj.) + Postposition ::NB in the layout above the things in (_) means they are not obligatroy. Distinctions Nouns : - Difference between plural and singular : - Un/Defined : - Possessiveness Personal Pronouns : - Number ( I vs. We) : - Inclusive and Exclusive : - Animacy : - No distinction between he and she : - Case (Erg vs. Abs) Verbs : - Voice : - Aspect/Tense : - Number & Gender Agreement Adjectives : - Comparative : - 'Gradable' Prefix Noun, Verb and Adjective Structure Nouns Structure Verbs Structure Adjective Structure *Adjectives cannot be inflected with comparative and the "Gradable" prefix at the same time. Aspect and Tempus The Imperfective 2 Aspect here seen in the table is the Conative Imperfect Aspect and is further explained in the Aspect Section. Correlatives Personal Pronouns Cases Qâêr is an Ergative/Absolutive Language. In an Ergative/Absolutive Language the Agent of transitive verbs is alone whereas the Subject of intransitive verbs and the Object of transitive verbs is the same case. Transitive Verbs require both a direct object and one or more objects while Intransitive Verbs do not take an object and has only one argument (The Subject) and also has a Valency of One. In general this means that in Qâêr the Agent is separate from the Subject and Object and the Subject and Object are the combined. : Example of Qâêr Translation into English; I killed her (I = Agent) She killed me '(Me = Object)' Me Slept '(Me = Subject)' :: As seen above the subject and object are combined into Me not like in English where the Agent and Subject are combined (Both being I). :: Note - Please see the declension table below for non-personal and pronoun declensions. Declension Table for Nouns Note '''Example of Vocative Case : ''Normal Name Uninflected - ''Brutus ' :: ''Inflected in Vocative -'' '''Brutó' Copulas There are two Copulas in Qâêr and thay are Nosson, and Mellon. Nosson is the copula used with adjectives, it is a version of the English verb to be in this sense. Mellon is the same however used with nouns. They conjugate thus; : The Copula Nosson is used in Adjectives like this English sentence; : I am fast :: Where the correct Nosson copula would take the place of am, and be placed at the front like all verbs in Qâêr. The Copula Mellon is used in nouns like this English sentence; : I am King. :: Where the correct Mellon copula would take the place of am, and be placed at the front like all verbs in Qâêr. :NB The pronouns used with Nosson take Subject(Absolutive) case and the ones with Mellon take Agent(Ergative) case. ::When referring to a person in general, someone of high authority, and/or personally unknown to the speaker or listener(s), then the conjugated form for They is used. Verb Agreement Verb conjugation works as a suffix in Qâêr and is dependant on the Agent, Subject, and Object in the sentence. There are six inflectional suffixes for verb agreement that all attach onto the verb depending on these things; Intransitive Verbs These suffixes are always accentuated and depending on the location of the other accentuated vowels may or may not change the placement of stress. Transitive Verbs These suffixes are always accentuated and depending on the location of the other accentuated vowels may or may not change the placement of stress. Affixes and Their Meanings There are many affixes in Qâêr however here is a basic list of the ones that won't be mentioned anywhere else on this page. Negation Verb negation is done by adding the prefix nao-''' to any particular verb one wishes to negate. Double negation is done by adding the prefix 'nelnao-'''to any verbs. The negation of adjectives is done also in a similiar fashion by adding the negation prefix ''nao-'' to the adjective thus obtaining results such as ''Happy - '''Un'happy'' Derivation All the following are Prefixes which remove the first vowel (if applicable, i.e is simple added if the word begins with a consonant) when being attached to the host. Adjective --> Adverb - '''dwe :Example; ijânei (Quick) > dwejânei (Quickly) Adjective --> Noun onêo :Example; Happy > Happiness (This is an abstract noun) Noun --> Verb colsoe :Exmple; Glory > Glorify Noun --> Adjective arene :Exmple; Recreation > Recreational Adjective --> Noun aroe :Example; Slow > Slowness Transitive Verbs --> Intransitive Verbs -- Ablaut o/ô/ó : In English this is not shown, e.g. Give can be both Transitive or Intransitive ::E.g.; I '''give' to charity'' (Intransitive) vs. I '''give' Mary Money'' (Transitive) Intransitive Verbs --> Transitive Verbs -- Ablaut i/î/í Adjectives --> Transitive Verbs -- hebê :Example; Rich > Enrich Nouns --> Transitive Verbs -- hímo :Example; Rapture > Enrapture Verb Affixes In this section the different affixes that relate solely to verbs will be discussed. The Inchoative Verb (Inceptive Verb) This verb conveys the process of beginning or becoming. This verb type is created simply but inflecting a verb in the Inceptive Aspect and this represents the start or beginning of that particular action and therefore negates verbs such as to start or to begin'. The Catenative Verb A Catenative Verb is a verb which takes other verbs as objects, Example; We '''promised' to try practicing tennis more often.'' Here in the above example the verb promised is Catenative and takes the verbs to try (Infinitive Form) and practicing (Gerund Form) as its objects. In English Catenative verbs are not marked however in Qâêr a verb has to be inflected with the Catenative suffix to become a Catenative Verb. : The suffix to change verbs to Catenative form is - âr Control Verbs In linguistics, a control construction (also called equi-NP deletion) is a clause that contains a main clause (or matrix clause), the predicate of which has two complements — an embedded clause (or subordinate clause) complement and a nominal complement that acts as the semantic argument of the main clause and of the embedded clause. This nominal argument is the controller (or antecedent). Verbs that occur in control structures are control verbs (or equi verbs). : Example in English - George '''tried' to escape'' Of course in the above sentence there are two verbs, so how does one distinguish between which verb is a control verb and which isnt? Well in English one simply doesn't know without foreknowledge however in Qâêr a distinction is made between normal and control verbs. Control Verbs in Qâêr are created and shown with a variated form of middle voice which inflects on the verb that will be or is taking the place of a Control Verb. There are too variants of the variated particle, one which refers to the Subject and one which refers to the Object. : Example in English - Georgina '''expected' to win the race'' : Here the control verb is Expected and the Subject is Georgina with the Race as the Object. : In this sentence both verbs refer to the subject, that being Georgina. : The gerund form can also be used - Georgina '''remembered' winning the race''. : Here the control verb is remembered but still both verbs refer to the subject. :: This is because it doesn’t make sense in English to write - Georgina expected Georgina/Herself to win the race. In Qâêr with reference to Control Verbs that relate to the Subject a slightly variated form of the middle voice, Insert Here is used which attaches onto the control verb (not the secondary verb) which shows that the control verb is actually a control verb and that it and the following paired verb refer to the Subject. : Thus the Qâêr translation looks like this in English - expected(Subject)herself' win Georgina therace. : This set out above along with the suffix that attaches to control verbs makes it obvious that both verbs take Georgina as the subject. :: The layout of this sentence is as follows; :: ExpectedSuffix - win - Georgina(Subject) - theRace(Object) ::: *Verbs that relate to the subject (or Object as below) would be in the finite perfective aspect and only the control verb takes case. In relation to control verbs with secondary verbs that refer to the Object instead of the Subject, Qâêr has a similar pattern to above. : Example in English - She '''convinced' him to do it.'' :: Here the control verb is convinced. Syntactically Him is only the direct object of convinced however semantically Him is the patient of convinced and the agent of to do so therefore both verbs are acting on Him which therefore becomes the Object of both verbs. In Qâêr this is done by using variated form of the original control verb suffix Insert Here, however this one symbolises that the control verb and following secondary verb act on the object and not the subject like the suffix above. Therefore applying this suffix the Qâêr translation into English looks like this; : ConvincedSuffix - Do - Subject(She) - Object(Him) - Indirect Object(It) :: * Remember that Both verbs would be finite perfective and only the control verb takes tense. Phrasal, Prepositional, and Phrasal-Prepositional Verbs and their Usage in Qâêr Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as to get together rather than to congregate, to put off rather than to postpone, or to get out rather than to exit. Phrasal and Prepositional and Phrasal-Prep verbs have a very simple structure in Qâêr, The sentence structure stays the same with the verb at the head and the phrasal verb coming after the verb, also Qâêr has postpositions not preposition so the preposition comes after the noun it relates to. This preposition or phrasal verb is inflected in the case of the thing it acts upon; Erg case when acting on the Agent, Abs for the Subject/Object, and Dat for the Indirect Object. This can also be done with adverbs, an adverb in a literal phrasal verb modifies the verb it is attached to, and a preposition links the subject to the verb. However the adverbs do not take case or any other unsuaul inflection. (unusual in this sense means anything that adverbs would not normally be inflected with) In the case where there is a Subject and Object and the preposition is inflected in the Absolutive case then it always inflects upon the object and not the subject (as both Subject and Object are Absolutive case), this is unless the verb is intransitive in which case it relates to the Subject (as this is the only argument of the verb, unless there is an indirect object in which case the above rules are followed and the prep or phrasal verb is inflected in dative). 'Phrasal' : English Phrasal Verb (Transitive) - Switch off the light. :: Qâêr Translation - aspectSwitch off abslight off ::: NB No Agent in the above sentence, rather the verb Switch off acts upon the Object The Light therefore Abs case is used. ::: NB When being used with personal pronouns, e.g ''Switch it '''off (English Usage), in Qâêr because of pospositions subject/object always comes first, seen here in both examples. : English Phrasal Verb (Intransitive) - When I entered the room he looked up. :: Qâêr Translation participle aspectenter ergI absroom 'aspectlook''' dathe datup'' :::NB When there is also a lexical verb in the sentence as well as the phrasal/prepositional verb construction, the phrasal/prep verb always comes before the subject/object that performs the action/event, unless this is the same subject/object that performs the action/event of the main lexical verb in which case a structure similar to that of the below example is followed. : English Phrasal Verb with Adverb - She opened the shutters and looked outside. :: Qâêr Translation - aspectopen and 'aspectlook''' erg.She ergoutside absshutter'' 'Prepositional' Prepositional verbs are phrasal verbs that contain a preposition. : English - On Fridays, we look after our grandchildren. :: Qâêr -'' aspectlook Friday ergWe absgrandchildren absafter'' :::NB On here in this context is not needed in Qâêr as prepositions (postposition in Qâêr) are not needed when referncing time as the time refernce, here friday goes after the verb to indicate when the verb takes place (in refernce to specific dates or times, not generalised like in the past [ because this is what tense is for :P]) : English - We ;;look after them.'' :: Qâêr - ''aspectlook ergwe absthem after The verb can have its own object, which usually precedes the preposition: : She helped the boy to an extra portion of potatoes. :: Qâêr - aspecthelp ergshe absportion extra Partitivepotatoes datboy ::: NB Here the Portion is what she helped him to, extra is an adjective of the noun portion and potatoes here inflected in Partitive case is what the portion was of. : With pronouns; She helped him to some. :: Qâêr - aspecthelp ergshe abshim datsome Prepositional verbs with two prepositions are possible: : We talked to the minister about the crisis. : Qâêr - aspecttalk ergWe absCrisis absabout datMinister Phrasal-Prepositional A phrasal verb can contain an adverb and a preposition at the same time. Again, the verb itself can have a direct object: - No direct object: The driver got off to a flying start. : Qâêr - Aspectgo great ergDriver '' :: '''NB' This is difficult to translate into Qâêr as the language lacks verbs for start or begin and relies rather on the Inceptive Aspect, therefore this sentence is translated thus and uses great as an adverb to replace the adjective flying in the English version. One thing to remember, not everything can be translated into another language, and this is an example. - Direct object: Onlookers put the accident down to the driver’s loss of concentration. : Qâêr -'' aspectput erg.Onlooker absAccident databessiveconcentration possDriver down'' ::NB It is possible, seen in this example for a noun to be inflected in two cases, this only occurs with the Abessive and Equative cases however. ::NB The posposition down'' comes fater its object, which is the driver's loss of concentration Phrasal Verbs and Modifying Adverbs In English when modifying adverbs are used alongside particle adverbs intransitively (as particle adverbs usually are), the adverbs can appear in any verb/particle/adverb positions (in English) however in Qâêr the structure follows strictly as - verb/adverb/particle. Example; : '''looked unhappily round He. The particle adverb here is round and the modifying adverb is unhappily. (Round is a particle because it is not inflected — does not take affixes or alter its form. Unhappily is a modifying adverb because it modifies the verb look). With a transitive particle verb, the adverb goes once again after the verb and before the particle. : Picked cheerfully ErgHe Absbook up. Prepositional verbs however (being postpositions) always come after their noun, in this case book. : 'Looked cheerfully ergHe abschildren after. (In Qâêr after is alway a postposition.) Phrasal Verbs Combined with Special Verb Forms and Clauses Phrasal Verbs Combined with Wh- and That Clauses. Sentences which include verb + particle + object(s) + wh-clauses : English Example - The teacher tried to '''dictate to' his class what is the right thing to do'' : In Qâêr the particle to that comes after dictate would not be present as the Noun class would simply be inflected in Dative case, eliminating the need for this particle. The structure in Qâêr is as follows; :: Imperfective AspectDictate ergTeacher datclass his participle Do absthing right / participle is absthing right :::either how to do the right thing or what is the right thing is acceptable in Qâêr. :::NB In this example the IO comes before the DO because the DO is imbedded in another clause. :English Example - My friends '''called for' me when the time came'' :Qâêr Example - aspectcall ergfriends possmine absme for participle aspectis abstime correct ::(when the time came cannot be directly and correctly translated into Qâêr) :English Example - Watch out that you don’t hit your head on the low beam :Qâêr Example - particle aspectHit ergyou abshead possyour datbeam low on Phrasal Verbs combined with Verb ''-ing'' Forms : English Example - You can’t '''prevent' me from seeing her'' : Qâêr Example - aspectnegationPrevent ergyou absme datHer ParticipleSee from ::NB The Active Participle in Qâêr is used in place of gerunds (which Qâêr lacks) and in NP's and PP's the N always comes first followed by any other adjectives, or in this case gerunds, and then after these the postposition(s). 'Participles' The Present Active Participle To derive the Present Active Participle form of a Verb the suffix -'pon' is added which transforms verbs as walk or write '''into '''walking and writing and e.c.t. The present active participle is used to describe the name or noun version of a verb and takes the place of either the direct object (I like Swimming) or the subject (Swimming is Fun). When a verb is inflected with the present active participle it cannot be inflected with aspect or tense or any other affix. The position of the present active participle in a sentence depends on if it is taking the place of the subject or object in which case it takes the normal position of any normal subject or object in a Qâêr sentence. The Present Passive Participle To derive the Present Passive Participle form of a verb the suffix '-pones' which transforms verbs such as speak and write into spoken and written and e.c.t. The present passive participle is most commonly used as an adjective in Qâêr and it follows the noun like normal adjectives. An example of the Present Passive Participle is; The '''written' word'', or It is a '''spoken' law'', the '''burnt' log'', and e.c.t Example, in the above sentences it would follow the main noun like log, or law. Derivation using the Present Active Participle and the Present Passive Participle The present active participle and the present passive participle also have other derived lexical uses, mainly deriving concrete nouns. The suffix â''' is added onto the present active and passive participles (the complete suffixes becoming '''-ponâ and''' -ponesâ''' respectively) which in turn transform these two participles from writing and written into writer/author and letter '''respectively and so on for other participles. : Example; '''Speaking > Speaker and Spoken > Speech '''e.c.t The Adjectival Participle To derive the Adjectival Participle form of a verb the circumfix of [â'''-]'' word'' [-'thel'] is added which transforms verbs to adjective participles. An example of an adjectival participle is; : very '''overrated' books, or ''a very '''frightening' experience,'' or ''fallen leaves.'' However in Qâêr Adjectival Participles can be inflected with the Comparative or 'Gradable' prefix because they are being used as adjectives. Gerunds Qâêr has no gerunds and does not use or incorporate them in any way, instead the Present Active Participle takes the place and function of Gerunds in Qâêr. Voice Voice is represented by prefixes that attaches to the verb to indicate the voice of the noun in the ergative case, or when lacking one then in the Absolutive case. Qâêr has three voices, Active, Passive, and Middle, however only two of these are marked, the Passive and Middle voice. This is because the active voice is used the majority of the time therefore not needing an affix of its own. Examples are in English and Qâêr. Sentence in Past Perfective Tense : English – He gave Mary Ten Dollars : Qâêr – AspectGive ErgHe AbsDollars Ten DatMary Sentence in Active Voice : English – He has given Ten Dollars to Mary : Qâêr – AspectGive ErgHe AbsDollars Ten DatMary Sentence in Passive Voice : English – Mary was given Ten Dollars by Him : Qâêr – PassiveAspectGive ErgHe AbsDollars Ten DatMary Sentence in Middle Voice : English – He washes himself with the soap. : Qâêr – MiddleAspectWashes ErgHe InstrumentalSoap 'Manner Time Place' Example in Qâêr – ‘'AspectRide Today ErgI mine AbsHorse Datshop’ : English Translation – ‘I will ride my horse to the shop today.’ 'Mood and Modality' In Qâêr mood is represented by a particle that is placed at the head of the sentence. In relation to the Interrogative '''mood, the structure will follow closely to that of the Japanese, meaning a particle will be used and placed before all other particles and used to transform sentences into questions. The '''Precative and Deliberative 'mood will relate here by inflecting on this particle, and only on this particle, thus making the question into a request or ‘''Ought to be done question’. This particle will be ‘'lê’ '''and be placed before all other words in the sentence. Qâêr has thirteen moods. These are as follows; : Indicative (Realis) : Optative : Subjunctive : Speculative : Potential : Jussive (Cohortative in 1st Person) : Dubative : Conditional : Hypothetical : Imperative : Interrogative (Particle) : Deliberative (Relate to Interrogative) : Precative (Relate to Interrogative) 'Interrogative Words The interrogative particle lê 'will be inflected with prefixes and these will phrase interrogative words such as ''what, where ''e.c.t. The interrogative particle without one of these prefixes will just be turned into a normal question. : ''What = qâlbe + lê – '''qâlbelê : Where = qin + lê – qinlê : When = qêose + lê – qêoselê : Who = qenom + lê – qenomlê : Why = qî + lê – qîlê : How = qâfe + lê – qâfelê : How Much = sonâ + lê – sonâlê :: Sonâ 'is derived from the Fáriân word '''Sjinolâme '''which means ''‘to barter’. :: 'Note '– when using any of these interrogative words in Subordinate or Relative clauses, just the prefix is used, not the prefix with the particle. ='''Dictionary= ='Examples'= 'The Number System' Basic Numbers The Qâêr number system is similar to the English or German one, in that the system is based of the number ten. The basic numbers from 0-10 are as follows; 0 - len 1 - onno 2 - sont 3 - qes 4 - loto 5 - ros 6 - mello 7 - seles 8 - opo 9 - nesso 10 - kâros Teen Numbers With the numbers 11-19 however there is a different pattern involved; 11 - kârosonno 12 - kârosont 13 - kâroqes 14 - kârosloto 15 - kârosros 16 - kârosmello 17 - kâroseles 18 - kârosopo 19 - kârosnesso